Indonesian residential property prices rose by 4.5% during the year to end-Q3 2011, according to
Bank Indonesia’s
Residential Property Survey. Higher prices of construction materials
(up by 7% to 12 %), higher workers’ wages and a higher permittance were
some of the reasons for the price rise witnessed in new construction.
The relatively poor price performance of residential property in
Indonesia has been something of a puzzle. There is tremendous pent-up
housing demand. Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest population of
245 million people. Despite strong economic growth and high levels of
investment, some of the major factors that have hampered the growth of
Indonesia’s housing market are:
- High mortgage interest rates
- Foreign ownership restrictions
- High costs of building materials
- High tax rates
- Red tape in government
Rapid urbanization has led to high urban densities, especially in
Jabodebek-Banten (Jabotabek) which led the property market among the
regions. Jabotabek or greater Jakarta is the urban development around
Jakarta with more than 28 million residents, and its population
continues to grow due to migration from all Indonesia. Here property
prices were up 5.74% over the year to Q1 2011. However, in
inflation-adjusted terms, prices were down by 1% over the same period.
Greater Jakarta was followed by Makassar with price increases of
5.32%. Makassar’s economy is driven by the fishing industry; it used to
be a major trading port. About 8 % of Indonesia’s total population
lives in this historic port city. In the near future, property prices
in Jabotabek and Makkaser are expected to outpace the rest of the
archipelago of Indonesia, barring Bali.
To curb inflationary pressures, the central bank raised the key rate by
25 basis points to 6.75% in February 2011. But generally, the
direction of interest rates has been down since December 2005, when
Bank Indonesia’s
policy interest rate stood at 12.75%. Inflation eased to 5.54% in June
2011 from 6.65% in the previous quarter, and Bank Indonesia expects
inflation to be under 5% going into 2012.
The Rupiah has held firm during the 2011 ‘crisis of the West’.
Indonesia’s economy grew 6.1% in 2010, after 4.6% growth in 2009,
despite the global crisis. With high domestic consumption and
investment and healthy export revenues, the Indonesian government is
confident that the economy will grow by 6.6% in 2011.
Foreign ownership is difficult in Indonesia. Land titles (hak milik) can only be held by Indonesian citizens. Foreign land ownership is against the constitution.
For apartments, the
1996 regulation (No. 41/1996)
states that foreigners who reside in Indonesia, or visit the country
regularly for business purposes, can purchase a home, apartment or
condominium as long as it isn't a part of a government-subsidized
housing development.
However, foreigners can only hold land-use (hak pakai) deeds, and most
developments hold right-to-build deeds (hak guna bagunan). It is not
possible for someone to have a land-use deed for a sub-unit of a
right-to-build deed. The length of these titles varies as well. Therein
lie some of the difficulties and unclear ownership issues.
So
foreigners can effectively only lease, and not truly own an apartment
for up to 70 years, but not free standing houses. Within this 70-year
period, foreigners must also periodically renew their right to use. The
initial hak pakai period is for 25 years, then renewed for an
additional 25 years and finally 20 years.
Additionally, the threshold or minimum property sales price that a
foreigner can purchase is 1.5 billion Indonesian Rupiah, which is
around USD168,388. This minimum "purchase" price is quite high in the
Indonesian context.
Foreigners may purchase a house on freehold land by written consent
from the landowner, for 25 years and extendable to a further 25 years. A
mooted change in the law on foreign property ownership would extend
the leasehold period to a full 70 years as opposed to 25 years followed
by subsequent renewals, was expected at the end of 2010, but is yet to
be passed in the House of Representatives, and has encountered
opposition, particularly in Bali.
While the passing of this law will be a welcome change, investors will
still find it coming up short when compared with the regulations in
other countries in the region such as Malaysia and Singapore.
this is right propery indexs Source:
The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal
Property Rights Index - indonesia Compared to Continent
indonesia: Property rights index
A subcomponent of the Index of Economic Freedom, the property
rights index measures the degree to which a countrys laws protect
private property rights, and the degree to which its government enforces
those laws.
Higher scores are more desirable, i.e. property rights are better protected. Scores are from 0 to 100.
The index also assesses the likelihood that private property will
be expropriated and analyzes the independence of the judiciary, the
existence of corruption within the judiciary, and the ability of
individuals and businesses to enforce contracts.
The Global Property Guide considers protection of property rights
as a significant factor affecting the desirability of a residential
real estate investment.